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No matter who you are or where you live or what you drive or whether you thought "The English Patient" or "Anchorman 2" the funnier movie, it is time to take a stand on plastic bread. Here's a hint: most of us are against it. Formaldehyde rinsed coffee beans? Not big fans. Flame retardants in our cupcakes? That's a big old negativo, Breaker One. And pink slime should be featured in horror films, not meat.

We thought the big controversies in the Sochi Winter Olympics would be toothpaste terrorism or government-sanctioned homophobia. Then the press tried to check into their hotels and discovered a comical array of foibles that will do nothing to boost the Russian tourism industry. But what shocks the traveling press corps-lost hotel reservations, uncovered manholes, unsafe tap water-is nothing new to those of us who have lived in Russia.

"Income Inequality" is the current marketing slogan for rallying voters to the Democratic Party. It just isn't "fair" that some people make millions of dollars a year "doing nothing" while millions of people work hard and struggle every day to put food on the table and afford HBO.

Note: A version of this column was originally published shortly after 9/11. Since then, from time to time, it has seemed appropriate to submit it again as a way of expressing the frustration of a populace whose leaders simply will not listen to their will. I offer it again in that spirit.

In the darkest recesses of our minds we have always known that monsters exist. It is only when we are involuntarily thrust into an unfolding human tragedy that shocks our senses and devastates our hearts that we truly acknowledge their presence.

Canadian-born, teen heart throb Justin Bieber's criminal misbehavior may indirectly hurt Congress' push for comprehensive immigration reform. All systems for the White House's coveted blanket amnesty are "go." President Obama just touted his version of reform during his Tuesday State of the Union address. House Majority leader John Boehner released what he calls his "immigration principles." Given those two major immigration developments, now could be a bad time for a foreign-born visa holder to be in the headlines because of his embarrassing illegal antics. Because of Bieber's high visibility, journalists reporting on his story-seemingly everyone in the ...

When the Hindenburg flew over Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey on May 6, 1937, as it burst into flames, causing 35 fatalities, WLS radio's Herbert Morrison's eyewitness account became one that would be remembered for the ages: "Oh, the humanity!"

President Obama laid out his personal standard for approving the presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline in his global warming speech at Georgetown University on June 25, 2013. If the project increases global warming, he'll veto it. Based on that standard, he should now approve the project - immediately.

Sometimes rhetorical questions demand answers. When Texas state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte asked, "At what point must a female senator raise her hand or her voice to be recognized over her male colleagues?" the deafening roar from the gallery carried Wendy Davis' filibuster over the midnight finish line last summer. But Van de Putte only got an answer last week. It turns out that it doesn't matter if a woman is even dead or raped. Texas Republicans don't recognize women at all.

February 12 marks the 205th anniversary of the birth of our sixteenth president. Yes, I could write a lot of dry, pompous stuff about the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln; but whereas Lincoln had only 18 months of formal education, I was exposed to the warped perspective of history teacher Jerry Holt at Marshall County High School (Lewisburg, Tennessee) for THREE YEARS, so what you're going to get is The Lincoln You Never Knew.

Out here on the East Coast, left-wingers ignore all sorts of research proving their feel-good remedies often exacerbate the problems they try to solve, such as violence (with gun buy-backs) and unemployment (by raising the minimum wage).